Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI-4021.01

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission has expanded the catalog of known exoplanet candidates, yet many remain unconfirmed without additional follow-up. To solve this, ground-based analysis is required to see if an object’s transit occurs on target as expected to confirm its planetary nature. Observational data from the George Mason University (GMU) Observatory form the basis of our study of TOI-4021.01. After data reduction of our telescopic images, ground-based photometry was conducted through AstroImageJ (AIJ), and a subsequent light curve was generated. The consistency of the light curve presented with the predicted ingress time, egress time, and depth suggested that the detection of TOI-4021.01 is accurate by the TESS mission. A Nearby Eclipsing Binary (NEB) check analysis was conclusive, indicating that our detection was not a false positive. This confirms that TOI-4021.01 is likely an exoplanet and can be used for further validation in future works.